Asda mandatory 180 day top-ups

Sea_Shell

Just looked at their website and the FAQs under the SIM only section show this...


Then if you click that link it states...

"For your account credit to remain active you must top-up or purchase a bundle within 180 days of activating your account (i.e. when you first made a call, sent a text or used data) or your last top-up or bundle purchase.

After 180 days without topping-up or purchasing a bundle your account will become restricted and you won't be able to make calls, send texts or use data, however you will still be able to receive inbound calls and texts.

We will send you a text message when you reach 180 days of inactivity, to reactivate your account, you will need to call us on 0808 006 2732 from any phone (free of charge) and top-up or purchase a bundle.

If after a further 90 days you haven’t contacted us to top-up or purchase a bundle your account will be expired, once your account is expired you will no longer be able to retrieve the mobile number or any credit remaining on the account.

If this has happened, order a SIM for free here or you can pick one up in store for 50p."

So that seems contradictory, however it reads like you won't lose your current credit BUT you still have to top up???

We've been over 180 days between top-ups before now, and not received a text...so this must be a new thing.

oliverbrown

Sea_Shell said:

So that seems contradictory, however it reads like you won't lose your current credit BUT you still have to top up???

Yes, you have to top up every 180 days, but seemingly you could wait until 269 days and ring them up to reactivate by topping-up, assuming you don't care about losing the ability to call and text for 89 days!

Sea_Shell

oliverbrown said:

Sea_Shell said:

So that seems contradictory, however it reads like you won't lose your current credit BUT you still have to top up???

Yes, you have to top up every 180 days, but seemingly you could wait until 269 days and ring them up to reactivate by topping-up, assuming you don't care about losing the ability to call and text for 89 days!

We do care, as they're our main phones!!!   We just don't use much!! 😉

DH hasn't topped up since last September and he's not been cut off (or received any text - yet!), so maybe it is only new customers, as we've been with them years .

oliverbrown

Sea_Shell said:

oliverbrown said:

Sea_Shell said:

So that seems contradictory, however it reads like you won't lose your current credit BUT you still have to top up???

Yes, you have to top up every 180 days, but seemingly you could wait until 269 days and ring them up to reactivate by topping-up, assuming you don't care about losing the ability to call and text for 89 days!

DH hasn't topped up since last September and he's not been cut off (or received any text - yet!), so maybe it is only new customers, as we've been with them years .

Yes it is new, the top-up expiry page from last year is completely different: https://web.archive.org/web/20211107175649/https://mobile.asda.com/help/topping-up/top-up-expire

k_man

k_man said:

I have other SIMs too. Just begrudge the £3.47 credit wastage 😁.

Oddly my last top-up was over 180 days ago.
Best go wake that device and check for messages.

Just checked my Asda SIM mobile, no notification SMS, but it has been powered off most of the time.

Last top up was over 180, but it is still active and can send and receive SMS and calls.

So it could be:

This has not been applied to older accounts yet.

It won't be applied to older accounts.

It is incorrect.

O2 made a similar change to their terms for 123 Classic a while ago, and that doesn't seem to have affected existing accounts/SIMs.

oliverbrown

I did find someone post on another website about mandatory Asda top ups: https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/payg-inactivity-account-termination-and-credit-expiry#comment-597956

Obviously I cannot verify the veracity of the post, and they also say 100 days instead of 180 days.

pseudodox

Just found this old thread and thought I would update with my own experience today.  I keep an old dumb Nokia phone with  an ADSA PAYG SIM as a back up, especially when out hiking.  Now that smart phones are the size of bricks I like this little old model in my pocket. I have for years been careful to make a chargeable call every 180 days to keep the SIM active.  Today was the date it needed me to do this as I have not used it for 6 months.  I discovered the phone had ceased being able to make outward calls.  On investigation I find it is because I have not done a top up, the requirement for which apparently came into play just after my last "keep alive" action.  It still has the balance of a £10 top up from about 3 years ago so I don't want to lose this.

Following the advice earlier in this thread I rang them from another phone on 0808 006 2732.  After ID/security checks I was asked to top up and was given the option of paying just £1 to reactivate the phone.  It was quick and simple as I already had a debit card registered with them for top ups.  The £1 got added onto my existing balance and the phone was instantly active again.  I was told I would have to do this every 180 days - ie not 100 as has been mooted above.

If I find I don't use the phone then in future I will simply donate the remaining credit to charity and give up this phone rather than let ASDA keep my money.  As it is only for occasional or emergency use I am not concerned about the cost of the calls or texts and the phone cannot use data.

oliverbrown

@pseudodox thanks for the information particularly the part about being able to top up £1 instead of the normal £5 minimum. I shall bear that in mind when my time to keep the sim alive comes.

pseudodox

I am not certain but I got the impression the £1 top up was offered because I had actually let the phone just go over 180 days (just checked my diary) so it had maybe deactivated anyway, apart from not having added any other top up within the time limit.  I can find no £1 option on the app or on my account.  So I suspect you cannot top up £1 while the phone is still alive.  It was only by phoning them & as it was a free call I was more than happy.  And you do have to take action before 270 days go by or they simply kill the phone dead!  And keep your money.

oliverbrown

My usual strategy is to send a text every five months, it sounds like in future I will change this to every 180 days and make the phone call to reactivate instead.